Figure Skater Competing In Her 5th Olympics Collapses On Ice Right Before Winning 1st Gold Medal

Caralynn is a writer, native New Yorker, TV enthusiast, and dog mom to Hobbes.

Aliona Savchenko is one of the most celebrated (and well-decorated) figure skaters in the world.

According toCosmopolitan, Aliona has won five World Championships gold medals, four gold medals at the Grand Prix Final, and four European Championships gold medals. But in all her years of competing, Aliona had never won an Olympic gold medal — and not for lack of trying.

The Ukrainian-born German skater previously competed at the 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 games. Aliona previously took home the bronze in 2010 and 2014 with former partner Robin Szolkowy, but it wasn’t until 2018 that her Olympic gold dreams finally came true.

Scroll through to see Aliona’s beautiful performance with her skating partner, Bruno Massot, and the incredible moment when she realized she was finally taking home a gold medal.

After China’s pairs’ skaters, who had previously been in first place, completed their performance, the German duo realized they were still on top — with a score less than half a point higher than their counterparts!

According to NBC Olympics, Aliona and Bruno’s win was also the first pairs’ gold medal for Germany since 1952.

“Today I wrote history,” Aliona said. “This is what counts. It is my moment. We celebrated new year together and we said 2018 will be our year and it became our year.” Bruno added: “I got the gold medal in my head. Yesterday I said I don’t want her to come back with another bronze medal. She deserved this gold medal.”

If you were wowed by this performance, please SHARE this emotional moment on Facebook!